[Leto Dal]

I am still trying to understand the whole thing about people disliking BA bass, to me the bass on Mentor is far more visceral, textured and "real" than lets so on DD of Anni 23. Had no issues with Trailli bass either.

 

[lycos]

After demoing 50-60 $1k-$6k IEMs I think I can say I actually do.

I’m joining @gLer DD bass club too

 

[theveterans]

I am still trying to understand the whole thing about people disliking BA bass, to me the bass on Mentor is far more visceral, textured and "real" than lets so on DD of Anni 23. Had no issues with Trailli bass either.

If you set your bass reference to Campfire Audio Trifecta, BA bass would be out of the question

 

[drftr]

I am still trying to understand the whole thing about people disliking BA bass, to me the bass on Mentor is far more visceral, textured and "real" than lets so on DD of Anni 23. Had no issues with Trailli bass either.

Pretty sure everyone has different expectations of how bass should sound, and therefore I will never "declare" what kind of bass is better, and nobody can. Like, electronic bass sounds very different from acoustic bass, so if the former is your thing then why not? For me acoustic bass prevails though, and it comes with a certain lack of control. Pull back those strings on an acoustic bass, let them go, and you're in for a surprise to how different they can sound when you do it 25 times in a row. Now press a key on a synthesizer 25 times and variability has been reduced to zero. What is better bass? No doubt the latter has much better control, so if that is what you're after then you've found your master. If however you're looking for the former less controlled and more organic kind of experience that results in a slower rise during a dynamic climax and a slower decay with more natural timbre then I find DD is the way to go.

Being a bit of a control freak I always hope to find that one BA IEM that doesn't have "great bass for a BA IEM" but comes with that (outdated?) analog feeling that came with LP records and tapes before the digital age. Some come close, but not close enough just yet. Pretty sure we'll get there some day, but until that day I prefer decay

drftr

 

[Sajid Amit]

Canjam Singapore Day 2 Impressions:

The day started with some Kaya toast, which is just lovely in its simplicity. First of many pictured below.

Then I made a beeline to the show floor proceedings. I have been searching for a cable for my Jewel which is subtly but definitively cable-sensitive. Picked up this flash acoustics cable after a LOT of cable-rolling. It’s called the Catalina. Sounds pretty good and a decent price as well.

Next was the Kinera Loki, which is a pretty impressive effort at a flagship honestly. I expected it to have a fair amount of treble presence and it did, but it was more sparkly than bright. I believe they call it “articulate”. Nice fast textured bass and overall a good clean listen. Will get it in for a review.

This QoA Adonis prototype (they had two this was the bassier one) was outstanding for $180, which is their expected price point at upcoming launch. Incredible performance for a sub-$200 product. Its a sister brand of Kinera, QoA.

Ice Labs audio also had two very interesting IEMs, the Prismatic and Prismatic Gold. They were both good IEMs but the Gold was very good and was better across the spectrum with some really high-quality BA bass, a tonally rich midrange, and a well-done treble. Impressive tuning and technicalities were solid for $1800.

Next I checked out the Noble Audio booth to experience the Onyx. First impressions are positive in that the tonality is spot on, the bass reminds of that fantastic Sultan bass, and overall very pleasant. It was too short a listen to determine how resolving it is for the price, but this is worth a look for Noble fans. The highlight for me and my wife was the incredible full gold and diamond Sultan, still my favorite Noble product.

They had another Sultan made of stainless steel and black diamond. Have to hand it to Noble for their out of the box choice of materials, aesthetics and finishing.

I also finally got to try the mythical Rhapsodio Supreme V3. And I loved it. Probably a close to perfect sounding set with incredible bass and holography. Its a single driver design but I was informed that the driver type is neither DD nor BA. The V3 uses a proprietary 12mm Ultramag 5G Magnetostatic (MST) driver. Many may not want to shell out $6400 for a single driver design and I could never argue that this one is worth the price but its truly fantastic and I would buy it if I could get it on a reasonable discount. It has genuine all rounder credentials, given my preferences. Definite show highlight for me.

While on the topic of unique tech, the Soranik MEMS was also quite enjoyable. What stood out was how much its sound varied depending on whether you were driving it directly from its portable energizer amp or whether the energizer product was connected to a separate amp, a Topping A90 in this case. It was full-bodied and bassy on the energizer and brighter and colder with the A90 in chain. The difference was far from subtle: like listening to two different IEMs. I enjoyed both experiences but I understand some people may have decided that it is bright based on the Topping chain. But it actually has a pretty decent bass shelf.

I also tried the Nostalgia Audio Tesseract which was decent but probably unremarkable.

The Elysian Pilgrim Noir, however, was quite impressive for the price. As someone else said, it definitely retains the Elysian house sound but offers a beautiful bass, much better than the Anni’s, in terms of how tactile, “bouncy”, and impactful it sounds. Overall, a very nice IEM. Note that the shell design isn’t final.

I had a re-listen to the WM1ZM2 + Obsprey PB5 stack and although amps make a small difference to the sound of IEMs (and yes the delta varies between IEMs); for many it may be a decisive difference. I am still trying to decide how much I care about this difference having bought and sold a Tsuranagi paying full price then losing on the sale, so let’s see if I end up buying the PB5. I also listen to IEMs mostly lying down or in the car or at the gym and none of these use cases are conducive to daisy-chaining.

The purple cable pictured above and below is a total beauty and its called Thanos and its from Flash Acoustics.

The Mass Kobo 475 continues to be a delight but I probably prefer the PB5 to it for the latter’s richness of presentation and largeness of stage.

Lastly, I wanted to see how much the Jewel scales on some of the hottest solid state amps in the business: the Mass Kobo 465 and the Zahl HM1. Surprisingly, although the Jewel scales very noticeably on the Hifiman Serenade on my nightstand, it didn’t offer any noticeable increment in performance on either the 465 or the HM1. It sounded rather clinical on the HM1 and overly smooth and rich on the 465, which goes to show how insufficiently synergy is correlated with price.

Having experienced all the IEMs I wanted to (I couldn’t find the Monachhaa or the Traillii Ti; these two still evade me), I went on to try Sony’s new entry-level headphones, the MDR-MV1. I was so impressed that I immediately bought a pair. What a beautifully studio neutral sound with great bass, a certain width to the stage, and impressive levels of resolution for the price! It’s also so light. Before I bought it I made sure to try it off different sources and it impressed on all of them!

Of course I spent more time with the best product of Canjam Singapore 2023, the Raal 1995 Immanis. Two of my friends, who are serious summit-fi headphone collectors and enthusiasts immediately placed their orders. After listening to it for the third time today, I am 99% certain that they are a step above in performance from the Susvara or the TC or the X9000.

While they are unmistakably Raal in their speed, texture, resolution, and airiness; these babies have a very realistic bass impact, a tonally rich midrange, and a certain spookiness to how images just materialize from an inky black void. Everything just seems to flow, with vivid lifelike imaging, and certain cohesiveness that for the first time in 2 years made me miss full-size headphones. These do what no IEMs can. I recently brought in the Susvara and the Utopia and I prefer my IEMs to both. But the Immanis are a different beast. They are probably the best headphones on the market at present.

@Aleksandar R. took a lot of photos with us and here he is, as chill as ever, taking the exceeding praise his headphones received, with humility, calm and a striking normalcy. Kudos, mate.

The day ended up with some quintessential Singaporean cuisine thanks to the super awesome @Roasty. Thanks for the treat, my friend.

My beloved wife joined me on day 2 for a tour of the floor and loved the action, the excitement and the collective audiophile passion.

Thus ended Canjam Singapore for me and although I didn’t make a whole lot of purchases, it was rewarding to see friends, old and new. See you all in 2025.

 

[linux4ever]

what does that have to do with brands not presenting their boutique products the way they want them to sound?

The iem manufacturers might release the iem with a sound signature with a cable pairing. For some buyers, it would be fine. For some, it won't be. They might want to fine tune the sound with another cable or bring out the extra (at a very extra cost because of diminishing returns to the gain achieved). There's no reason as a buyer that I should just go with what the iem manufacturers want these iems to sound.

 

[Oschi]

I am still trying to understand the whole thing about people disliking BA bass, to me the bass on Mentor is far more visceral, textured and "real" than lets so on DD of Anni 23. Had no issues with Trailli bass either.

If you compare the bass from the Aura with that of the Mentor, you should get closer to the matter. In my opinion.

 

[Leto Dal]

If you compare the bass from the Aura with that of the Mentor, you should get closer to the matter. In my opinion.

I think its the overall tuning, Bass on Aura is definitly much more visceral but is it because of the DD?

Pretty sure everyone has different expectations of how bass should sound, and therefore I will never "declare" what kind of bass is better, and nobody can. Like, electronic bass sounds very different from acoustic bass, so if the former is your thing then why not? For me acoustic bass prevails though, and it comes with a certain lack of control. Pull back those strings on an acoustic bass, let them go, and you're in for a surprise to how different they can sound when you do it 25 times in a row. Now press a key on a synthesizer 25 times and variability has been reduced to zero. What is better bass? No doubt the latter has much better control, so if that is what you're after then you've found your master. If however you're looking for the former less controlled and more organic kind of experience that results in a slower rise during a dynamic climax and a slower decay with more natural timbre then I find DD is the way to go.

Being a bit of a control freak I always hope to find that one BA IEM that doesn't have "great bass for a BA IEM" but comes with that (outdated?) analog feeling that came with LP records and tapes before the digital age. Some come close, but not close enough just yet. Pretty sure we'll get there some day, but until that day I prefer decay

drftr

Yeah thought about that too, the thing is even with analog vs digital music bass there are so many nuances. Yes I heard less decay in analog music bass with Mentor than lets say with my dynamic driver ZMF (not Anni tbh), but in the same time the large BCD creates an illusion of physicality that not even big dynamic driver of VO or an Atrium can do - the strings sound more natural, there is some body to the instruments that I dont get from DD. In the same time planar driver bass of a Susvara well amplified with the right amps, can sound much more "real" than any dynamic driver I heard to date. So yeah, still cant quite put my finger on why there is a consensus that dd bass is so much better than ba. Maybe its indeed the preference of longer decay, which doesnt matter to me much.

 

[fidgeraldo]

Pretty sure everyone has different expectations of how bass should sound, and therefore I will never "declare" what kind of bass is better, and nobody can. Like, electronic bass sounds very different from acoustic bass

And Ibanez sounds better than Stratocaster, Gibson, or Stratocaster. Nope, they are just different for different purposes.
So many options...and they are all welcomed...wonderful world, a wonderful world of Hi-Fi

Cheers!

 

[PixelSquish]

The iem manufacturers might release the iem with a sound signature with a cable pairing. For some buyers, it would be fine. For some, it won't be. They might want to fine tune the sound with another cable or bring out the extra (at a very extra cost because of diminishing returns to the gain achieved). There's no reason as a buyer that I should just go with what the iem manufacturers want these iems to sound.

I never said you should. The only thing I've been arguing against was the statement that a lot of these IEM brands don't ship a cable with the 'correct' sound, whereas as you made my point, I do believe that they release IEM's with the sound they want to portray. I have never ever said that people shouldn't try to experiment on their own by any means. This seems to be a problem with people jumping into conversations they haven't kept up with, so no worries.

 

[iemsforme]

Canjam Singapore Day 2 Impressions:

The day started with some Kaya toast, which is just lovely in its simplicity. First of many pictured below.



Then I made a beeline to the show floor proceedings. I have been searching for a cable for my Jewel which is subtly but definitively cable-sensitive. Picked up this flash acoustics cable after a LOT of cable-rolling. It’s called the Catalina. Sounds pretty good and a decent price as well.



Next was the Kinera Loki, which is a pretty impressive effort at a flagship honestly. I expected it to have a fair amount of treble presence and it did, but it was more sparkly than bright. I believe they call it “articulate”. Nice fast textured bass and overall a good clean listen. Will get it in for a review.



This QoA Adonis prototype (they had two this was the bassier one) was outstanding for $180, which is their expected price point at upcoming launch. Incredible performance for a sub-$200 product. Its a sister brand of Kinera, QoA.



Ice Labs audio also had two very interesting IEMs, the Prismatic and Prismatic Gold. They were both good IEMs but the Gold was very good and was better across the spectrum with some really high-quality BA bass, a tonally rich midrange, and a well-done treble. Impressive tuning and technicalities were solid for $1800.





Next I checked out the Noble Audio booth to experience the Onyx. First impressions are positive in that the tonality is spot on, the bass reminds of that fantastic Sultan bass, and overall very pleasant. It was too short a listen to determine how resolving it is for the price, but this is worth a look for Noble fans. The highlight for me and my wife was the incredible full gold and diamond Sultan, still my favorite Noble product.





They had another Sultan made of stainless steel and black diamond. Have to hand it to Noble for their out of the box choice of materials, aesthetics and finishing.



I also finally got to try the mythical Rhapsodio Supreme V3. And I loved it. Probably a close to perfect sounding set with incredible bass and holography. Its a single driver design but I was informed that the driver type is neither DD nor BA. The V3 uses a proprietary 12mm Ultramag 5G Magnetostatic (MST) driver. Many may not want to shell out $6400 for a single driver design and I could never argue that this one is worth the price but its truly fantastic and I would buy it if I could get it on a reasonable discount. It has genuine all rounder credentials, given my preferences. Definite show highlight for me.



While on the topic of unique tech, the Soranik MEMS was also quite enjoyable. What stood out was how much its sound varied depending on whether you were driving it directly from its portable energizer amp or whether the energizer product was connected to a separate amp, a Topping A90 in this case. It was full-bodied and bassy on the energizer and brighter and colder with the A90 in chain. The difference was far from subtle: like listening to two different IEMs. I enjoyed both experiences but I understand some people may have decided its bright based on the Topping chain. But it actually has a pretty decent bass shelf.







I also tried the Nostalgia Audio Tesseract which was decent but probably unremarkable.



The Elysian Pilgrim Noir, however, was quite impressive for the price. As someone else said, it definitely retains the Elysian house sound but offers a beautiful bass, much better than the Anni’s, in terms of how tactile, “bouncy”, and impactful it sounds. Overall, a very nice IEM. Note that the shell design isn’t final.



I had a re-listen to the WM1ZM2 + Obsprey PB5 stack and although amps make a small difference to the sound of IEMs (and yes the delta varies between IEMs); for many it may be a decisive difference. I am still trying to decide how much I care about this difference having bought and sold a Tsuranagi paying full price then losing on the sale, so let’s see if I end up buying the PB5. I also listen to IEMs mostly lying down or in the car or at the gym and none of these use cases are conducive to daisy-chaining.



The purple cable pictured above and below is a total beauty and its called Thanos and its from Flash Acoustics.



The Mass Kobo 475 continues to be a delight but I probably prefer the PB5 to it for the latter’s richness of presentation and largeness of stage.



Lastly, I wanted to see how much the Jewel scales on some of the hottest solid state amps in the business: the Mass Kobo 465 and the Zahl HM1. Surprisingly, although the Jewel scales very noticeably on the Hifiman Serenade on my nightstand, it didn’t offer any noticeable increment in performance on either the 465 or the HM1. It sounded rather clinical on the HM1 and overly smooth and rich on the 465, which goes to show how insufficiently synergy is correlated with price.





Having experienced all the IEMs I wanted to (I couldn’t find the Monachhaa or the Traillii Ti; these two still evade me), I went on to try Sony’s new entry-level headphones, the MDR-MV1. I was so impressed that I immediately bought a pair. What a beautifully studio neutral sound with great bass, a certain width to the stage, and impressive levels of resolution for the price! It’s also so light. Before I bought it I made sure to try it off different sources and it impressed on all of them!



Of course I spent more time with the best product of Canjam Singapore 2023, the Raal 1995 Immanis. Two of my friends, who are serious summit-fi headphone collectors and enthusiasts immediately placed their orders. After listening to it for the third time today, I am 99% certain that they are a step above in performance from the Susvara or the TC or the X9000.





While they are unmistakably Raal in their speed, texture, resolution, and airiness; these babies have a very realistic bass impact, a tonally rich midrange, and a certain spookiness to how images just materialize from an inky black void. Everything just seems to flow, with vivid lifelike imaging, and certain cohesiveness that for the first time in 2 years made me miss full-size headphones. These do what no IEMs can’t. I recently brought in the Susvara and the Utopia and I prefer my IEMs to both. But the Immanis are a different beast. They are probably the best headphones on the market at present.

@Aleksandar R. took a lot of photos with us and here he is, as chill as ever, taking the exceeding praise his headphones received, with humility, calm and a striking normalcy. Kudos, mate.



The day ended up with some quintessential Singaporean cuisine thanks to the super awesome @Roasty. Thanks for the treat, my friend.



My beloved wife joined me on day 2 for a tour of the floor and loved the action, the excitement and the collective audiophile passion.



Thus ended Canjam Singapore for me and although I didn’t make a whole lot of purchases, it was rewarding to see friends, old and new. See you all in 2025.

Thanks for your insights on the new products! Beautiful family!

 

[Scubadevils]

Been a bit busy with reviews lately and had a few in the queue... only remaining for now is the NiceHCK 'Himalaya' which I'm working on next and excited to spend more time with.

For now, I've just published my review for the Orivetti OH700VB - a $699 hybrid with 1x DD and 6x BA - HERE

 

[PixelSquish]

Canjam Singapore Day 2 Impressions:

The day started with some Kaya toast, which is just lovely in its simplicity. First of many pictured below.



Then I made a beeline to the show floor proceedings. I have been searching for a cable for my Jewel which is subtly but definitively cable-sensitive. Picked up this flash acoustics cable after a LOT of cable-rolling. It’s called the Catalina. Sounds pretty good and a decent price as well.



Next was the Kinera Loki, which is a pretty impressive effort at a flagship honestly. I expected it to have a fair amount of treble presence and it did, but it was more sparkly than bright. I believe they call it “articulate”. Nice fast textured bass and overall a good clean listen. Will get it in for a review.



This QoA Adonis prototype (they had two this was the bassier one) was outstanding for $180, which is their expected price point at upcoming launch. Incredible performance for a sub-$200 product. Its a sister brand of Kinera, QoA.



Ice Labs audio also had two very interesting IEMs, the Prismatic and Prismatic Gold. They were both good IEMs but the Gold was very good and was better across the spectrum with some really high-quality BA bass, a tonally rich midrange, and a well-done treble. Impressive tuning and technicalities were solid for $1800.





Next I checked out the Noble Audio booth to experience the Onyx. First impressions are positive in that the tonality is spot on, the bass reminds of that fantastic Sultan bass, and overall very pleasant. It was too short a listen to determine how resolving it is for the price, but this is worth a look for Noble fans. The highlight for me and my wife was the incredible full gold and diamond Sultan, still my favorite Noble product.





They had another Sultan made of stainless steel and black diamond. Have to hand it to Noble for their out of the box choice of materials, aesthetics and finishing.



I also finally got to try the mythical Rhapsodio Supreme V3. And I loved it. Probably a close to perfect sounding set with incredible bass and holography. Its a single driver design but I was informed that the driver type is neither DD nor BA. The V3 uses a proprietary 12mm Ultramag 5G Magnetostatic (MST) driver. Many may not want to shell out $6400 for a single driver design and I could never argue that this one is worth the price but its truly fantastic and I would buy it if I could get it on a reasonable discount. It has genuine all rounder credentials, given my preferences. Definite show highlight for me.



While on the topic of unique tech, the Soranik MEMS was also quite enjoyable. What stood out was how much its sound varied depending on whether you were driving it directly from its portable energizer amp or whether the energizer product was connected to a separate amp, a Topping A90 in this case. It was full-bodied and bassy on the energizer and brighter and colder with the A90 in chain. The difference was far from subtle: like listening to two different IEMs. I enjoyed both experiences but I understand some people may have decided that it is bright based on the Topping chain. But it actually has a pretty decent bass shelf.







I also tried the Nostalgia Audio Tesseract which was decent but probably unremarkable.



The Elysian Pilgrim Noir, however, was quite impressive for the price. As someone else said, it definitely retains the Elysian house sound but offers a beautiful bass, much better than the Anni’s, in terms of how tactile, “bouncy”, and impactful it sounds. Overall, a very nice IEM. Note that the shell design isn’t final.



I had a re-listen to the WM1ZM2 + Obsprey PB5 stack and although amps make a small difference to the sound of IEMs (and yes the delta varies between IEMs); for many it may be a decisive difference. I am still trying to decide how much I care about this difference having bought and sold a Tsuranagi paying full price then losing on the sale, so let’s see if I end up buying the PB5. I also listen to IEMs mostly lying down or in the car or at the gym and none of these use cases are conducive to daisy-chaining.



The purple cable pictured above and below is a total beauty and its called Thanos and its from Flash Acoustics.



The Mass Kobo 475 continues to be a delight but I probably prefer the PB5 to it for the latter’s richness of presentation and largeness of stage.



Lastly, I wanted to see how much the Jewel scales on some of the hottest solid state amps in the business: the Mass Kobo 465 and the Zahl HM1. Surprisingly, although the Jewel scales very noticeably on the Hifiman Serenade on my nightstand, it didn’t offer any noticeable increment in performance on either the 465 or the HM1. It sounded rather clinical on the HM1 and overly smooth and rich on the 465, which goes to show how insufficiently synergy is correlated with price.





Having experienced all the IEMs I wanted to (I couldn’t find the Monachhaa or the Traillii Ti; these two still evade me), I went on to try Sony’s new entry-level headphones, the MDR-MV1. I was so impressed that I immediately bought a pair. What a beautifully studio neutral sound with great bass, a certain width to the stage, and impressive levels of resolution for the price! It’s also so light. Before I bought it I made sure to try it off different sources and it impressed on all of them!



Of course I spent more time with the best product of Canjam Singapore 2023, the Raal 1995 Immanis. Two of my friends, who are serious summit-fi headphone collectors and enthusiasts immediately placed their orders. After listening to it for the third time today, I am 99% certain that they are a step above in performance from the Susvara or the TC or the X9000.





While they are unmistakably Raal in their speed, texture, resolution, and airiness; these babies have a very realistic bass impact, a tonally rich midrange, and a certain spookiness to how images just materialize from an inky black void. Everything just seems to flow, with vivid lifelike imaging, and certain cohesiveness that for the first time in 2 years made me miss full-size headphones. These do what no IEMs can’t. I recently brought in the Susvara and the Utopia and I prefer my IEMs to both. But the Immanis are a different beast. They are probably the best headphones on the market at present.

@Aleksandar R. took a lot of photos with us and here he is, as chill as ever, taking the exceeding praise his headphones received, with humility, calm and a striking normalcy. Kudos, mate.

nice write up. Do you know what the price was for the Pilgrim Noir? And did you compare them at all to the plain Pilgrim? Thanks!

 

[twister6]

I guess that's an old description? Bluetooth 5.0 and no card slot on the standard edition <> 2024.

drftr

L&P specs are always confusing, though E7 is probably the first one with the most details. They are talking about a card slot logo, with the exclusive edition having a different logo (?), but both versions do have micro-SD if that is what you referred to as "no card slot".

From the spec, the exclusive version has different tuning profiles (was distinctly different in sound even on the prototype I tested) and adjustable opamp voltage settings, probably similar to other DAPs turbo/hyper settings with a voltage boost. Also, looks like the exclusive one will have a better spec and higher output power, probably due to a higher voltage as you adjust the opamps rail/rail supply.

 

[Leto Dal]

Canjam Singapore Day 2 Impressions:

The day started with some Kaya toast, which is just lovely in its simplicity. First of many pictured below.



Then I made a beeline to the show floor proceedings. I have been searching for a cable for my Jewel which is subtly but definitively cable-sensitive. Picked up this flash acoustics cable after a LOT of cable-rolling. It’s called the Catalina. Sounds pretty good and a decent price as well.



Next was the Kinera Loki, which is a pretty impressive effort at a flagship honestly. I expected it to have a fair amount of treble presence and it did, but it was more sparkly than bright. I believe they call it “articulate”. Nice fast textured bass and overall a good clean listen. Will get it in for a review.



This QoA Adonis prototype (they had two this was the bassier one) was outstanding for $180, which is their expected price point at upcoming launch. Incredible performance for a sub-$200 product. Its a sister brand of Kinera, QoA.



Ice Labs audio also had two very interesting IEMs, the Prismatic and Prismatic Gold. They were both good IEMs but the Gold was very good and was better across the spectrum with some really high-quality BA bass, a tonally rich midrange, and a well-done treble. Impressive tuning and technicalities were solid for $1800.





Next I checked out the Noble Audio booth to experience the Onyx. First impressions are positive in that the tonality is spot on, the bass reminds of that fantastic Sultan bass, and overall very pleasant. It was too short a listen to determine how resolving it is for the price, but this is worth a look for Noble fans. The highlight for me and my wife was the incredible full gold and diamond Sultan, still my favorite Noble product.





They had another Sultan made of stainless steel and black diamond. Have to hand it to Noble for their out of the box choice of materials, aesthetics and finishing.



I also finally got to try the mythical Rhapsodio Supreme V3. And I loved it. Probably a close to perfect sounding set with incredible bass and holography. Its a single driver design but I was informed that the driver type is neither DD nor BA. The V3 uses a proprietary 12mm Ultramag 5G Magnetostatic (MST) driver. Many may not want to shell out $6400 for a single driver design and I could never argue that this one is worth the price but its truly fantastic and I would buy it if I could get it on a reasonable discount. It has genuine all rounder credentials, given my preferences. Definite show highlight for me.



While on the topic of unique tech, the Soranik MEMS was also quite enjoyable. What stood out was how much its sound varied depending on whether you were driving it directly from its portable energizer amp or whether the energizer product was connected to a separate amp, a Topping A90 in this case. It was full-bodied and bassy on the energizer and brighter and colder with the A90 in chain. The difference was far from subtle: like listening to two different IEMs. I enjoyed both experiences but I understand some people may have decided that it is bright based on the Topping chain. But it actually has a pretty decent bass shelf.







I also tried the Nostalgia Audio Tesseract which was decent but probably unremarkable.



The Elysian Pilgrim Noir, however, was quite impressive for the price. As someone else said, it definitely retains the Elysian house sound but offers a beautiful bass, much better than the Anni’s, in terms of how tactile, “bouncy”, and impactful it sounds. Overall, a very nice IEM. Note that the shell design isn’t final.



I had a re-listen to the WM1ZM2 + Obsprey PB5 stack and although amps make a small difference to the sound of IEMs (and yes the delta varies between IEMs); for many it may be a decisive difference. I am still trying to decide how much I care about this difference having bought and sold a Tsuranagi paying full price then losing on the sale, so let’s see if I end up buying the PB5. I also listen to IEMs mostly lying down or in the car or at the gym and none of these use cases are conducive to daisy-chaining.



The purple cable pictured above and below is a total beauty and its called Thanos and its from Flash Acoustics.



The Mass Kobo 475 continues to be a delight but I probably prefer the PB5 to it for the latter’s richness of presentation and largeness of stage.



Lastly, I wanted to see how much the Jewel scales on some of the hottest solid state amps in the business: the Mass Kobo 465 and the Zahl HM1. Surprisingly, although the Jewel scales very noticeably on the Hifiman Serenade on my nightstand, it didn’t offer any noticeable increment in performance on either the 465 or the HM1. It sounded rather clinical on the HM1 and overly smooth and rich on the 465, which goes to show how insufficiently synergy is correlated with price.





Having experienced all the IEMs I wanted to (I couldn’t find the Monachhaa or the Traillii Ti; these two still evade me), I went on to try Sony’s new entry-level headphones, the MDR-MV1. I was so impressed that I immediately bought a pair. What a beautifully studio neutral sound with great bass, a certain width to the stage, and impressive levels of resolution for the price! It’s also so light. Before I bought it I made sure to try it off different sources and it impressed on all of them!



Of course I spent more time with the best product of Canjam Singapore 2023, the Raal 1995 Immanis. Two of my friends, who are serious summit-fi headphone collectors and enthusiasts immediately placed their orders. After listening to it for the third time today, I am 99% certain that they are a step above in performance from the Susvara or the TC or the X9000.





While they are unmistakably Raal in their speed, texture, resolution, and airiness; these babies have a very realistic bass impact, a tonally rich midrange, and a certain spookiness to how images just materialize from an inky black void. Everything just seems to flow, with vivid lifelike imaging, and certain cohesiveness that for the first time in 2 years made me miss full-size headphones. These do what no IEMs can. I recently brought in the Susvara and the Utopia and I prefer my IEMs to both. But the Immanis are a different beast. They are probably the best headphones on the market at present.

@Aleksandar R. took a lot of photos with us and here he is, as chill as ever, taking the exceeding praise his headphones received, with humility, calm and a striking normalcy. Kudos, mate.



The day ended up with some quintessential Singaporean cuisine thanks to the super awesome @Roasty. Thanks for the treat, my friend.



My beloved wife joined me on day 2 for a tour of the floor and loved the action, the excitement and the collective audiophile passion.



Thus ended Canjam Singapore for me and although I didn’t make a whole lot of purchases, it was rewarding to see friends, old and new. See you all in 2025.

Cant wait to get my hands on Immanis, how does it compare to Susvara on a good 300b chain?